Customers pack Conn. gun stores after deal on laws

Updated 10:34 pm, Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Shoppers leave Hoffman's Gun Center with their purchases in Newington, Conn., Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Customers are packing gun stores around Connecticut following the unveiling of new gun-control legislation, which could take effect as soon as Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Shoppers leave Hoffman's Gun Center with their purchases in...

Cars jam the parking lot as shoppers leave Hoffman's Gun Center with their purchases in Newington, Conn., Tuesday, April 2, 2013. Customers are packing gun stores around Connecticut following the unveiling of new gun-control legislation, which could take effect as soon as Wednesday evening. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

NEWINGTON, Conn. — Customers packed gun stores around Connecticut on Tuesday ahead of a vote expected to bring sweeping changes to the state's gun control laws, including a ban on the sale of large-capacity ammunition magazines like the ones used in the Newtown shooting and a new classification for more than 100 types of guns as banned assault weapons.

Lawmakers have touted the legislation expected to pass the General Assembly on Wednesday as the toughest in the country. Some measures would take effect right away, including the expansion of the state's assault weapons ban, universal background checks for all firearms sales, and a ban on the sale or purchase of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The bill also addresses mental health and school security measures in response to the massacre.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, supports the bill and could sign it into law as soon as Wednesday night.

In a state with a rich history of gun manufacturing, some companies said they feel the legislation made them into scapegoats for the deaths of 20 first-graders and six educators in the Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. At least one ammunition magazine maker is more seriously considering offers to leave.